A Thousand Fathoms of the Swift Amber River
by Ryuu Moonlight
Summary: 9 years after her adventures in the spirit world, Chihiro, a college student and skilled author, is pulled back into the spirit world during its time of need. A powerful evil threatens the balance of the world as it seeks to destroy the spirit realm. During what seems to be the darkest hour, Kohaku and Chihiro make every effort to save their friends, finding love along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm starting yet another story! Don't worry, i haven't forgotten the other two. I'm struggling with some writers block regarding those stories. I really want to get back to them, i just don't quite know how to go about writing the parts I'm stuck at.  
**

 **I don't plan on making this a very long story, maybe just around 10 chapters or so. Anyway, Enjoy!**

 **Update: After realising how inaccurate my story actually is, i decided to fix it up. I also felt my story was a bit lacking on solid detail, so I'm going through and actually describing things. lol. I am reading up on Shinto stories, so look forward to details accurate to real mythology! Also none of the places named here are real, the movie took place in a fictional city and so will my story.  
**

* * *

"Ten minutes!" A stern-sounding professor stated as he and his students pushed dust mops back and forth across the old tile floors. It was customary in Japanese schools to clean the classroom at the beginning of each day. The idea is that it will teach students respect for their surroundings. Chihiro scrubbed away at the mildew on the frames of the windows. They hadn't been cleaned in ages and she silently wished she had never brought it up. It was her second day at Geijutsu Bungakubu. It was a rather small college in the small town she had lived in for the past nine years.

Chihiro tended to avoid speaking to many people at the college. She could feel their disapproving jealous eyes burning through her as she walked through the halls between classes. The only reason she was there was her recent success as an author. A little more than a year prior to enrollment at the college, eighteen year old Chihiro had enrolled in a writing competition where she presented a short novel titled _Spirited Away._ She easily won the competition and was rewarded with a scholarship for a literature program at a college of her choice. As she began applying to colleges she opted to publish her book. It had become a national best seller within a month. The deans of the Geijutsu Bungakubu hoped to gain popularity for their small school by hosting such a well known author as a student.

Chihiro enjoyed her classes at the school, but to a certain extent she didn't feel like she deserved to be there. She almost felt like she cheated her way in. She was well known for a fiction novel and that's all it was, but something in the back of her mind kept telling her otherwise. She had once stated in an interview, "I don't view it as fiction, so much as I view it as a story yet to happen. I was an imaginative little girl raised under a Shinto household and was terrified by the idea of Kamikakushi. I was probably ten when these characters first came into existence. Whether any of it actually happened or if it was actually a dream doesn't matter much to me. What was important were the lessons i learned and eventually shared." To her, her words were true, but she still felt as if something wasn't quite right about it.

Chihiro realised that she was staring quite intensely at a wall rather than listening to her teacher. The professor repeated himself to the daydreaming girl, asking her to name the conjunctions. She recited them with ease, they had been drilled into her head in grade school. The professor gave her a half-hearted praise before moving on to the next student.

Her second class was on ancient religions. She was somewhat excited for this class. While Chihiro was familiar with Shinto tradition, she didn't quite know all of the history behind it. She was a bit disappointed to learn that it would be covered in a week or so after Buddhism. Chihiro pulled her textbook out of her back and began peeling the shrink-wrap from it. As the thin plastic was removed from the hard cover book, a strange but familiar scent wafted off of it. It was a very chemical smell, but it wasn't displeasing. Chihiro had come to appreciate that 'new book' scent. She inspected the shimmery cover of her fresh book. There was a glossy image of kitsune on the cover. She opened the hard cover only to have her breath taken away by the very next image in the book. The fierce face of a pearly river spirit stared back at her. The sea green mane seemed to flow as Chihiro stared at the dragon. In most cases, such an aggressive looking image would bother her or even scare her, but something felt familiar, comforting even, in the jade eyes of the aggressor.

That night Chihiro returned to her dorm room late, her friend Mei was already fast asleep. Chihiro did her best to not wake her friend, but it was hard when the floors creaked and moaned under even the slightest weight. She went straight through the small apartment and out onto the balcony. It was raining steadily outside. Chihiro took a deep slow breath in through her nose, savouring the musty smell as warm precipitation washed the humidity out of the air. Chihiro felt comforted by the rain, there was something relaxing about the soft patter of rain drops, something familiar. Chihiro realised she was dozing off as she stood leaning on the short banister. It was quite late, Chihiro went in to get some rest.

It was very early in the morning when Chihiro woke. She had not slept well, fortunately she had a fairly free schedule today. She had scheduled her classes for every other week day so that she could have the time to relax in between. She ate her breakfast quickly and began her pile of homework from the previous day. Day one of Ancient Religion had left her an essay on the appeal of Buddhism due by next week. She worked hard on it until around noon. Chihiro packed away her progress and made her way to the library in town. She was well aware that the college had its own library and bookstore, but those buildings were packed with schoolbooks and encyclopedias. Chihiro had no interest in those books, they were too... educational, for a lack of a better word.

"Welcome back, Ogino-san! Always nice to see you!" An older man greeted Chihiro as she entered the small library.

"Hello Hiroshi-sama! Any new fiction?"

"Not since last week, and your book is still the most recently written piece in my collection."

"Thanks anyway!" She shouted as she walked down one of the aisles. The tall aisles were uncomfortably close together, giving only enough room for one person at a time. Beyond the first set of shelves was a small sitting area. Chihiro took a seat at one of the small leather armchairs. She pulled out a small notebook and placed it at the table in front of her. She shuffled through her bag to find a pencil. Bringing her pencil to the paper, she froze. The pencil hovered dangerously close to marring the blank page as she thought hard about her ideas. As if a light switched had been flicked on in her mind, she put the pencil completely to the paper and began scribbling away. As she sat there writing, she became aware of how eerily quiet the library had become. She slowed her hand to a stop and looked around. It was too quiet, even for being the middle of a school day. She looked up, the lights were still on. The air conditioner had switched off and Chihiro hadn't noticed at first. She began to calm down as she realised what had happened to the noise. Before she could completely re-devote her thought to her page, something passed in the corner of her eye. She jerked her head in the direction of the movement, but the library was completely still.

* * *

Twilight darkened over an old bathhouse and the bridge lights flicked on. Silhouetted figures began to fill in with colour as they approached the streets leading to the Aburaya. Red paper lanterns dotted the streets giving off a brilliant welcoming light. A small, green Frog spirit named Aogaeru greeted spirits as they crossed the red bridge into the busy bathhouse. Haku landed roughly in the middle of the bridge with a loud thud before transforming into a human form and running inside. He completely ignored Aogaeru as he rushed inside and upstairs to Yubaba. Aogaeru wanted to be frustrated with Haku for not returning his greeting, but recognized that somethign must not be quite right if Haku was in such a rush. The Foreman was handing out tokens left and right as regular customers came through. He attempted to greet Haku as he rushed past, but couldn't get a word in before Haku was completely gone.

Haku burst into Yubaba's office rather abruptly and slammed a spell book down on her desk. Without a word he turned to leave; annoyed Yubaba used her magic to stop him in his tracks.

"Are you not going to wait for a thank you or a reward?" Yubaba asked, the slightest poisonous tone in her words

"You aren't the kind of person to give thanks, much less rewards." Haku responded calmly, but coldly.

"Think carefully about your words, or continuing to live will be your thanks." Yubaba spat back. Yubaba motioned for Haku's hand. When he reached outward she turned his hand palm-side up and placed on hand in his and the other beneath it. The witch's massive hands completely engulfed his. Haku felt an intense heat, he winced lightly at its intensity. Any normal person would have tugged their hand backwards from the intense heat, but Haku stood firm; the heat felt oddly familiar.

"What is this?" Haku asked, not even disguising his hunger for the answer.

"That is your fire. Surely you recognized it. For your unwavering loyalty to me and my bathhouse, I am returning the full extent of your magic."

"Why?" Haku asked, completely stunned by Yubaba's kindness.

"You have placed in my hands the spell book of the most powerful spirit in existence."

Kohaku took a long flight after his conversation with Yubaba. As He flew over the vast water that extended from the backside of the bathhouse, he blew flames out into the open air. Vibrant blue fire extended like a serpent's tongue from the dragon's mouth. He roared out in joy; a powerful stream of fire coming from his mouth and nose as he strained his voice. Flying far out into the distance, Kohaku headed towards the site of his river, or where it had once laid. As he landed he changed into his human form. He breathed in deeply again before blowing fire into the air yet again. Even in the shape of a human, he could use his fire breath. He laughed and shouted in excitement.

His joy didn't last for long as he stood at the ruined site of his river. The silted, useless dirt grew no grass to disguise the location of the river. Haku's eyes followed the dirt upstream into the distance. Nothing was there, not even the slightest trickle of water. A spring water bottling factory had been built at the top of the river and the dried up river bed filled in with left over dirt from construction sites. The clay and silt heavy dirt was infertile and ugly. Kohaku's joy was quickly replaced with sadness, then again with anger as he stood at the site of his dead river.

With the full extent of his magic returned to him, Kohaku could feel the power welling inside of him as he grew more and more angry. In a matter of moments he was completely overtaken by his rage. His power began to manifest itself in changes in his physical appearance. His eyes began to glow white, sharp scales stuck out of his skin, and sharp yellowed fangs stuck out of his mouth. He raised a hand, lightly flexed, into the air. As if grabbing onto a blanket and tugging it off a bed, he threw his hands sideways, clawing through the air. The earth shook and dust puffed into the air from his dried riverbed. The Water bottling company upstream exploded as a cascade of water destroyed the factory and washed the filthy dirt away. Raging water blasting down stream, bringing the Swift Amber River back to life. Havoc erupted in town. Parts of the main street had been destroyed and a small playground washed away. As panic arose, Haku fled back to the Bathhouse, with no care for what effect his action might have.

* * *

 **That is it for chapter 1! I hope you enjoyed!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2!**

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking!" Yubaba shouted at Haku.

Haku stood silently.

"How dare you interfere with the human world like that!" The old witch scolded, "You could have been found! I'm not so much worried about a human finding you, I'm worried about other powerful spirits finding you."

"Why are you so worried about me all of a sudden?" Kohaku asked calmly.

"Because I own a vast collection of magical knowledge from hundreds of ancient spirits, if anyone with evil intent were to torture you long enough, they might find out about my collection!" Yubaba shouted rather indignantly. Kohaku rolled his eyes in disgust at her lack of actual care for him. Once again she was looking out for herself. He knew that she was in fact capable of caring for others, as proven by her care for Chihiro and some of her employees and customers, but for whatever reason she was cold towards him.

"If you are done being reckless and showing off your power to the world, I would like for you to make your rounds and make sure my employees are actually working." Yubaba snapped.

"Yes Ma'am." Kohaku responded without emotion. He stood up and walked out of Yubaba's office. He had very little to do during the rest of his hours awake so he walked slowly down the hall, taking his time to complete Yubaba's request. He knew why she was so much colder to him, er... he had a theory; he was free from his contract with her. He thought that she should be more pleased with him that he had chosen to stay and work for her, despite no longer being forced to. That fact didn't seem to please her at all. He also had noticed that Yubaba had grown colder after Chihiro had returned to her world. Whether it was actual sadness at the loss of her best employee or simply disappointment from not getting to turn the young girl into a pig, Yubaba had changed after Chihiro left.

Haku's thoughts shifted to his friend. Chihiro. He realised quite suddenly just how much he missed his friend. She had been there for him for a lot during her short period of time in the spirit world. For all she did for him, including simply being his friend, he was most grateful for her saving his life. Rather than save the river spirit's medicine for herself, she had given it to him. Kamaji had stated that it was love that saved him; love in its purest form; selfless care for another. Chihiro had selflessly helped him, even at the risk of her life. As he replayed the events in his head, a strange feeling overtook him. Haku felt sick to his stomach and his chest felt hollow. His heartbeat echoed in the cavity that his short breaths failed to fill. He shook his head firmly and began walking again. Haku picked up his pace and thought about where in the bathhouse he would go first.

As he made his rounds, Haku stopped to speak to some of his favourite people, mainly, Lin and Kamaji. They had come to like him a lot more when Chihiro had been there nine years ago. As he spoke to Lin and Kamaji, his mind wandered. Haku slowly lost attention to the conversation.

"Haku? Are you okay there?" Lin asked. Haku had a glazed over look to him as he stared off into space.

"Huh? yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?" he asked trying to act like he hadn't been staring off into nothing.

"Well you seem more sad than normal and, well, you were staring rather intensely at a wall" Lin stated as if it were common knowledge. Haku turned bright red. He did not want to admit that he spaced out thinking about Chihiro. Lin liked to tease and he did not want to give her another thing to tease him about. _You miss your friend, nothing more_. He told himself as he avoided eye contact with Lin and Kamaji.

"Well if you are just going to ignore us in a conversation you started, then I'm going to go back to grinding herbs." Kamaji said as he turned around. He banged a small mallet and shouted for his susuwatari to come back out of hiding. He began rolling his grinder wheel again.

* * *

"Officials are baffled as to what could have possibly occurred at the site of a local water bottling factory this after noon." A news reporter rambled on on the TV in the other room as Chihiro buried her nose in a book.

"Chihiro! Come look at this!" Her roommate called from the TV room, "That river that got filled in when we were kids just exploded and refilled itself earlier today!" Chihiro got up and ran to the other room to look at the TV. As she stared at the image of the river, the feeling of familiarity washed over her again. She went pale-faced as she stood there quietly.

"Kohaku..." she mumbled, as a flood of memory took her by surprise. She felt light-headed

"Chihiro!" Mei stumbled to catch her friend before she got hurt.

 _How could I have forgotten any of that was real_

"Chihiro! Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine. I stood up too quickly." She lied.

"You fainted at the name of a river... Are you sure you are okay?" Mei pressured, not believing Chihiro's claim.

"Yes I'm sure." Chihiro argued, standing up and taking a spot at the table to continue watching the news. "This is kind of a big deal, don't you think?"

"What would make this a big deal?"

"They filled that river in because it was too choppy. Despite being a small river, it was too dangerous. I fell into that river as a child, and rather than drowning in its violent waters, i was carried safely to shore by them. My parents always told me that it was the river spirit who had protected me. Once i was old enough to know better, I still hoped that it was true and that the Kohaku River spirit was watching over me." Chihiro was not lying necessarily, more or less telling what was the truth to her before she ever went to the spirit world.

"whoa... that's huge significance..." Mei stated, seemingly blown away by Chihiro's short backstory. Mei turned her attention back to the TV where news reporters discussed the decision to take up vote on whether the river should stay or not.

"We should set up a petition to help vote in favor of keeping the river!" Mei said excitedly. Chihiro's eyes lit up at the idea. Mei moved to the computer in the office space to begin making petition sheets. After the sheets printed out, Mei gathered them onto a clipboard and grabbed a box of pens out of the desk.

Mei and Chihiro spent the next several hours walking around the campus gathering signatures. They were blown away by the sheer number of people who supported keeping the river rather than filling it back in. Chihiro was shocked by the sheer number of people the river also held significance to. She met a fellow who made a yearly trip to the riverside where a small shrine was built. He had lost his sister to the water of the river. When the river had been filled in, the shrine for his sister had been destroyed and he hadn't been back since. Another man had met his wife at the side of the river. So many people had wonderful, beautiful stories to tell of why the river was important to them. Chihiro began to think maybe Kohaku was more than just a river spirit, but also a spirit of joy; because even the people who had experienced sad times at the river still felt joy because of it.

At the end of the day, nearly every person on campus had signed to keep the river. This was amazing, but it still was not a majority vote, they would need more signatures from out in town. They planned to get up very early the next day they had free. Ideally they would have gone the very next morning, but Chihiro had class first thing in the morning, so they'd have to wait a day to start again. During Mythology, Mei and Chihiro sat at the very back of the classroom so they could speak quietly and not be noticed.

"This is The Kohaku River" Chihiro stated, showing Mei the picture of the dragon spirit just inside the cover of her text book. Her excitement was a little hard to disguise.

"How do you know that, it just says that it is a river spirit." Mei asked, confused at her friend's confidence in her statement.

"Fifteen years ago, this dragon was part of many tales told in my old neighbourhood. My parents loved those stories and continued to tell them to me when i grew older. Besides that, there is no 'general' colouring for any river spirit, they are all unique in detail." Chihiro answered matter-of-factly. To a degree she had to make things up since she didn't have a good explanation. She knew all dragon spirits looked different, and her parents had told her those old folk tales, but the reason she knew it was Kohaku was because she knew him personally. She was beyond happy to have her memories of the spirit world back, but she was also saddened. Haku had promised they would meet again, but she had not seen him in nine years. She had been left to believe her adventures in the Shinkai were dreams and stories. She had come to believe that her book was inspired by childhood stories.

Chihiro missed that world. The Shinkai had been a dangerous place, but she had made friends and no amount of danger was going to keep her from wanting to be with her friends once again. The longer she let her thoughts linger on the spirit world, the more frustrated she became with Haku. She grew red in the face as she tried to justify her frustration to herself. _Why should you be upset that an immortal being is taking to long._ She asked herself. _Because he promised._ She argued indignantly.

"Chihiro, you are staring so intensely at that book that its almost making things awkward. Get a room." Mei teased. Chihiro turned a deeper shade of red than she had already been. She hid her face trying desperately to understand her embarrassment. She had been staring at the picture of the dragon that saved her life. There was nothing strange or awkward about that... right?

* * *

 **I hope you are enjoying the story so far. This is a second edition of the chapter. I've updated it with more accurate Japanese lore. I was kinda just making stuff up previously... Something a little time spent actually studying what you are writing about can fix. And I got rid of that bs story about chills. I hated that, it didn't make any sense. Also, it is actually canon that Chihiro forgets about the spirit world, that's why she is given so many clues to its existence.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3!**

* * *

After Kohaku had finished his rounds in the bathhouse, he found himself a quiet place to be alone. He needed some meditation time. He hadn't had a very frustrating day, yet his temper had grown shorter and shorter as the day had gone on. He could feel it start to boil in his chest. It wasn't as bad a feeling as the hollowness he had experienced that morning, but he didn't exactly like this feeling either. He needed his quiet time to ponder his growing anger and perhaps calm it.

He kneeled down and closed his eyes, resting his hands palm-down on his upper thigh. With a deep breath inward through his nose, he focused on his anger, and with a slow exhale he tried to let go of his anger with it. He felt only somewhat better so he continued the process a few times. As his breath slowed to calm, he felt a twinge of pain at his wrist. He opened his eyes to see the hair tie he kept as a bracelet. It had been hers before No Face and Boh had spun her a new one. Looking at it reminded him of her. For a brief moment he completely forgot about his anger, but it all returned when he remembered his forgotten promise to his friend.

Haku closed his eyes and returned to his breathing exercise. The first breath felt hot. He inhaled through his nose again, exhaled through his mouth. Steam came out of his mouth. Once again he breathed in and out, this time thick smoke and an intense heat billowed from his mouth. It wasn't working. Holding in what he could, letting only thin wisps of flame escape his lips, Haku stepped onto the balcony. With a roar, a powerful flame billowed from his strained mouth. He grabbed one of the small wooden stools next to him and chucked it over the edge into the water below.

After a few minutes his anger calmed to sadness. He had spent nearly a decade just hiding away any emotion and it came out all at once. He had things he was frustrated with, but he couldn't justify to himself the amount of sheer rage he felt. He knew talking to Lin might help make him feel better, but he wanted anything other than her teasing and he knew that if he said even the slightest thing odd he'd never hear the end of it. The boiling in his chest had drained and left him feeling hollow once again.

Haku heard the paper door slide open and quickly composed himself. He stood and leaned on the banister hoping to not attract any attention to himself. It didn't work. Lin stepped out onto the balcony nest to him and, using her foot, shut the balcony doors behind her. She silently offered him a bowl of rice. He took the bowl of sticky white rice carefully trying not to drop the chopsticks that were haphazardly stuck into the bowl.

"So what's wrong." Lin asked the sullen spirit.

"Nothing." he replied as he stared at his rice menacingly.

"Somethings wrong. I saw flames from three floors up." Lin offered her evidence to her point. Haku ignored her. "You are staring at your rice. It's not intimidated so eat it."

"What do you want from me, Lin" Haku asked, annoyed at the nosy kitsune.

"I want to know why a beam of flames nearly burnt my paper door to my room off. Yubaba gave you new magic or something?"

"Actually its old magic. She took it from me when she took my name."

"Does it feel good to have it back?"

"Somewhat..."

"Well? Is that it? You seem disappointed?"

"It came with a lot of anger too."

"Are you sure that isn't self-inflicted?" Lin wanted so bad to add that he tended to frustrate others too, but she could feel how upset he was, so she avoided poking fun at him for now.

"I'm sure some of it is, but that's never caused outbursts in the past, so why now?"

"Well what are you upset about, maybe you've just finally hit a tipping point."

"Its all stupid things..." He said, turning to look away from her as he felt his face get hot.

"It may be stupid, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't upset you. I was pissed the last time one of those frogs took my fried newt. It was stupid to be upset when i could have gone to the kitchen for another." Lin tried her best to console him and get him to talk.

"I suppose to start, Yubaba is becoming increasingly frustrating. She always has loads of work for me and she is always conditionally thankful. So i hate when she does something that's not conditional, because then i don't feel like i can trust it."

"That's perfectly fair." Lin gave him some confirmation so that he would keep talking; she did agree with him on the matter.

"I've tried to be kinder, but most of the other spirits still act as though I've been put up to it by Yubaba. That's not the only issue that comes back around to her either. I'm free. Shouldn't I be happy about that? I keep coming back to this bathhouse to do Yubaba's bidding and just trying to leave makes me upset. That's why I dug up my river, I wanted my home back; but what did i do? I fled and I haven't gone back to my river since."

"Do you think Yubaba has another spell on you to do her bidding?"

"At this point, I far outmatch her in power. She wouldn't be able to place a spell on me, besides I know all of her magical secrets." Haku stated, trying hard to not sound as though he was bragging.

"Well then it sounds like you need to have a serious talk with Yubaba."

"I would, but I kind of want to stay here in the bathhouse. I don't want to throw away being welcome here."

"Why would you want to stay here, you are free. If its a matter of missing me or kamaji, you can just visit to get a bath or something."

"I... Well.."

"Just spit it out already. Jeez, Haku, you're a blubbering mess right now." Lin teased, taking probably her only opportunity to actually do such a thing.

"I want to be here if Chihiro returns." He stated quietly turning beet red, the slightest hint of iridescence flashed across his eyes as he turned his head.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Sen... You knew her as Sen, but her real name is Chihiro."

"You're still waiting for her? Why haven't you tried to find her?" Lin asked.

"Spirits are only visible to humans who believe in them. If she no longer believes in spirits, she won't be able to see me." He replied sadly, resting his head on his folded arms on the banister.

"Could this issue be what you are really upset about? You seem more frustrated and depressed about this than about any of the issues Yubaba is creating for you." Lin asked innocently.

"I don't know." he knew the answer, he just didn't want to give it. He just missed his friend dearly, but didn't want to give that answer for fear that it wasn't completely truthful either.

"Why don't you give it a shot? The water will have completely receded tomorrow morning. I know it doesn't mean much, but it'll be easier to reach the mortal world that way."

"I know... I didn't know you knew so much about it." Haku was a bit confused by her knowledge.

"You forget that I used to be a free spirit too once. I was a white fox roaming the forests of the mortal world. I can remember every detail of that time... except for my name." Lin stared off towards the clock tower across the water longingly.

"What did you do before you came to work here?"

"Kitsune are messengers. That's what I did. As humans changed, so did their need for messengers. There came a point where we stopped running messages from town to town and we started putting envelopes in little metal boxes and driving little vans. I never got to run messages, I'm not that old, but I was there when they stopped using horses and started driving."

"Maybe I'll be able to find your name while I'm out there." Haku suggested.

"Don't bother, I'm content. It took a long time, but I'm happy with where I'm at."

* * *

Chihiro found herself scrambling to finish her essay. ' _The Appeals of Buddhism_ ' was due the next morning and she had barely begun. She and Mei had let the week pass unnoticed. It wasn't long before the clipboard of signatures was buried beneath books and scrap paper. THe speed at which may was producing paragraphs was impressive to Chihiro. Chihiro may have been good at writing and telling stories, but she hated essays; Mei, on the other hand, could produce an eighteen-pager overnight and still get an 'A' on it. Chihiro was admittedly a little envious of this incredible skill.

The next morning was rough for Chihiro and Mei. They hadn't slept much because of how late they stayed up working on their papers. Sluggishly, they made their way to class. As they walked through the school courtyard, Chihiro felt refreshed by the cool air. The light breeze carried the musty smell that almost definitely meant rain was coming. She looked up to the sky to see if the clouds agreed. The sky was clear other than some light wispy clouds. She smelled the breeze again, enjoying the scent and the memories it held. She was pulled quite suddenly from her thoughts when her and Mei reached the door to their classroom.

Chihiro was thoroughly disappointed to find that she had misunderstood her class schedule. Not only had her and Mei stayed up all night writing, but they still had another week on the topic of Buddhism before they started on Shintoism. Frustrated, but somewhat relieved that her paper wasn't due yet, Chihiro took her seat and pulled out her textbook and her journal. She turned to the page where she had been working on a sequel to her novel 'Spirited Away'. She wanted to press forward, but felt awkward about some of the details of her story. Having full memory of her friends in the spirit world again, she didn't want to just make up a story about them. She worried she might write something that would never actually happen.

Her eraser hovered over the name of her protagonist, Haku. While she eventually wanted to change other details, she felt like she needed to start with this one in particular. She liked the name and the ideas that came with it, but she almost felt embarrassed at the idea of the real Haku finally finding her again and reading this book. She didn't want it to look like fantasizing, no matter how innocent her story might be. Try as she might, she could not produce a better suited name for her protagonist. She felt stuck at a stalemate. She had no inspiration for her story in its current state, but she had no idea how to change it for the better either. Frustrated, Chihiro simply put a large cross through the entire page as boldly as she could and turned to a blank page.

Time seemed to pass by much faster than was wanted. Chihiro didn't feel like she had been thinking very long, but class was over already. Mei had suggested they get lunch out today, Chihiro didn't really want to go anywhere, but she liked the idea better than sitting alone in the dorm room eating Top Ramen again. As much as she liked her noodles, she was getting very tired of the packaged variety. A store had opened recently that looked quite promising. The little shop was called 'Sen no Men'. As they rounded the corner and the store came into view, the aroma of various spices made its way over to them. They instantly realised just how hungry they were.

As they ate their food, Chihiro was very silent.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Mei asked her moping friend.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Of course! You can tell me anything!"

"It's gonna sound crazy." Chihiro warned.

"I don't care, it doesn't matter what you tell me." Mei insisted.

"You know that book i published?" Chihiro asked.

"Let me guess.. you didn't write it!" Mei asked with mock surprise.

"No, no, no!" Chihiro laughed, "No, that's not it. It's a true story. I'm the girl in the story, its all real, it happened to me."

"Shut up! You're full of it!" Mei exclaimed in disbelief.

Blushing, Chihiro responded, "No it's true! Look at this!" Chihiro pulled the sparkling purple hair tie out of her hair.

"What is that?"

"It's the same hair tie I've been using for 9 years. It was woven with magic in the spirit world." Chihiro explained, "The witch, Zeniba, said that it would protect me because it was woven by my friends."

"But the spirits are just stories told to teach lessons." Mei argued.

"They are more real than you think! Kohaku was a close friend of mine while i was trapped in the spirit world. He promised we would meet again one day."

"Have you seen him yet?"

"...No...not yet." She said, suddenly feeling very sad.

"Then how do you know it wasn't a dream or a part of the stories your parents told you after you fell into the river?"

"Because the hair tie works. I haven't gotten sick in years and I've many close calls with injury." Chihiro backed up her claim.

"Well what are you doing here? Don't you want to go back to the spirit world?" Mei asked, the slightest touch of sadness in her voice.

"I do, but I have a life here, I can't just abandon my parents! I will go back one day! Or perhaps Kohaku will come to our world to find me. I haven't seen my friend in almost a decade, I miss him." Chihiro's words got quieter as she spoke, and her face grew redder as she neared the end of her last sentence.

"You don't have to try to justify wanting to see someone important to you, Chihiro, but know that I know you well enough to know when you aren't telling me everything. So either you are actually trying to hide something from me, or you aren't being honest with yourself."

"What are you talking about, Mei? I am being perfectly honest!" Chihiro snapped.

"I hate to break it to you, but you don't realise when you are being dishonest with yourself. What's the real reason you want to see this river spirit again?" Mei pressured.

"Because he's my friend! Stop trying to make assumptions, Mei!"

* * *

Kohaku waited until Yubaba left the bathhouse before stepping into her office. He was looking for a small spherical jewel. Lin had told him not to bother helping her, but he wanted her help in the mortal world. She would never be able to leave the spirit world without knowing who she truly was. Lin had given him enough detail that he knew exactly what to look for. Given the nature of Kitsune, Yubaba would never have been able to take Lin's name without also taking her magic, as the Jewel that gives a kitsune its magic usually has its name etched in its surface.

Haku fished through drawer after drawer. Yubaba had so many gems and jewels that finding any specific one was going to be time consuming and annoying. He sat back and thought long and hard about where Yubaba might have hidden the kitsunebi dama. To make things harder, there was no telling how many Kitsune were actually hired, what colour Lin's dama was, or what her name is. The full extent of his daunting task was dawning on him.

Names are powerful things. A name is given after a personality begins to appear in a child, but names are more than just that. Names help to shape destiny as well. Haku knew that Lin could be somewhat fiery in behaviour at times, but he also knew that she was very kind and generous. She always seemed to favour red, so that seemed like a reasonable place to start. With no idea what her name could be, he decided to search for red jewels.

After an hour or so of digging through various chests and drawers, Haku found a strange object that felt very different from the other jewels. This small sphere fit nicely in the palm of his hand. The dark red gem was very warm, where all of the other jewels had been cold. A small symbol was cut in its surface: 茜. _Akane_ , The name stood for many things, Deep red and angry child being the two most notable, but the Kanji used referred specifically to a tree used to make red dyes. Haku hoped that what he held was Lin's, otherwise he was risking the life of the poor kitsune this actually belonged too.

Kitsunebi Dama held the soul and magic of their owners. A kitsune who lost their dama was doomed to die in best case scenarios. This was how Yubaba had been able to keep Lin here, by keeping her dama away from her. Haku did his best to put everything back where he found it and left the office to find Lin. He ran through the halls of the top floor as lights began to turn on. He needed to make it downstairs before Yubaba arrived.

Haku skidded around a corner and hurried to a stop in front of Lin and the other worker-girls' sleeping area. "Lin!" he shouted repeatedly as he banged on the door. A sleepy spirit answered the door and shooed Haku away. Lin hadn't been in there and Haku had awoken several spirits who desperately wanted that last half hour of sleep before they began working. He stood there frustrated, thinking where he might find her. An idea came to him abruptly; Lin was likely downstairs with Kamaji. Looking at the small red sphere in his hand, he took off running to an elevator again.

"Lin! I found... your..." His voice faded as he stepped into the boiler room to find Yubaba sitting with Lin and Kamaji for some tea.

"Why don't you join us, Kamaji prepared delicious Jasmine tea, Haku." Yubaba said with an icy tone that told him she knew why he was there. Stuffing the dama in his pocket, he kneeled next to the short table and Kamaji poured him a small cup. He sat quietly as the awkward conversation continued. Lin and Kamaji probably would have rather been anywhere else at that moment.

"You had something you wanted to say to Lin didn't you, Haku? What of hers did you find." Haku wasn't sure what Yubaba was trying to do, but something didn't feel right. Her words bothered him. She shouldn't want him to give it to Lin, but here she was drawing attention to it Haku tried to think a way out of it, but sighed when nothing came to mind. Slowly he pulled the small ball from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"I found your soul." Haku said calmly to Lin. She was speechless as she stared at the small orb. It felt so familiar, yet so strange at the same time. She turned it and read the name.

"Akane" Lin whispered. Memories came flooding back and she buckled over holding her head in her hands.

"Now explain to me why this was important to you, Haku." Yubaba asked coldly, not caring what his answer was going to be.

Haku stayed silent as he glared at the witch. He knew something was truly off about her. She was so much colder than she wad once been.

"Fine, don't answer. Either way, you're a traitor. You just cost me a good employee and now the two of you can be together in the human world." With a wave of her hand and a flash of light, Haku and Lin were lying on the ground in the middle of a forest.

Lin and Haku woke, looking around trying to find anything that might tell them where they were. Haku turned to find Lin glaring at him.

"How dare you!" She screamed. "I told you I was content. I didn't want this! You self-center, conceited shit!"

Haku looked away from her tear-stained face and began walking. He realised that what he had done was wrong. He shouldn't have flipped her life over to help him in the human world. He didn't get very far before reaching a path lined with shrines on either side. "Come, there's a way out."

"Are you listening to me, Haku?'

"Yes. You're right, I screwed up big time. How was I supposed to know that Yubaba was going to banish you with me. I somewhat hoped that if you had your name and magic back, you would be able to help me, being a messenger spirit and all. I knew that if I gave you your name back, Yubaba would throw me from the bathhouse. Again, I had no idea she 'lock' us out of the spirit world. She didn't have access to that kind of magic last time i checked!" He had begun slowly at first, but soon his words turned into an angry rant.

"Look, I'll help you, but you still need to make it up to me big time."

"I will, I promise."

* * *

 **Big stuff next chapter!**

 **The name Chihiro chose, Koibito, to replace Haku in her story means Lover. She doesn't choose this because of its meaning, not consciously anyway. Its more of a consequence of being bilingual, not giving time to think of the word she is applying and why. It's just a subtly nod to her love for Haku ;)**

 **I hope you enjoyed!**


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